I can tell you how much I loved the art in this book, I just want to frame all of it for my wall. I loved learning all the folklore as I look at the gorgeous art. Claire Cock-Starkey did perfect with this book and I can't wait to read more from them.

Lore of the Land, by Claire Cock-Starkey and Samantha Dolan, revolves around the traditions, legends, and myths surrounding the natural world. Six chapters focus on a different habitat, from the sea, to forests, to mountains. Each starts off with a myth or legend from around the world, followed by more diverse categories under that habitat.

With language designed to captivate, the book tells tales of weird and wonderful customs, traditions, and lore from the world over. The descriptions of traditions and their evolution provide nuanced insights into the customs of the past and how they continue to impact modern society. Every chapter of the book is structured in a candid and conversational style, and the storytelling is a perfect form. The illustrations in Lore of the Land add a vibrant and visual interpretation of the rich cultural traditions.

One minor qualm- fauns are half goat, not half horse. Other than that, perfect for those interested in folklore and mythic studies!

***Many thanks to the Netgalley & Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lore of the Land; Folklore & Wisdom from the Wild Earth by Claire Cock-Starkey was an absolute delight! I would love to own this as a physical copy. The illustrations are absolutely breathtaking!

This book is just beautifully illustrated. I love the bright colors used. The graphics are whimsical really nice for younger readers, will really draw them into the stories. Well done!

I love compendiums about folk traditions and tales. Eclectic and well-researched, Claire Cock-Starkey brings an excellent, comprehensive blend to this collection. The illustrations are vivid and immersive. A really fun book to explore.

This is a book that is perfect for younger readers who want to read stories found in myth, lore and folk tales and also perfect for adults as you can a lot of similarities amongst different cultures. I loved the categorisation of all of the stories as it helps the reader see the similarities and differences between the stories. The illustrations are also beautiful and often help the reader to picture the fantastical in a more easier way than if it were a text-only book of re-tellings.

If you like this book but want more of an academic spin still with illustrations I would recommend "Ladies of Legend" by Blanche Sabbah.

If you are a regular visitor on my blog, you will know that I enjoy reading just about everything, and folktales and such hold a special fascination. Which is why it is no wonder that this book appealed to me. Its beautiful cover, the clever title, and the description: all of this ensured I will be reading Lore of the Land. And I am glad I did!

It is utterly beautiful from start to end in both the visuals and the text. The book is arranged into sections based on natural elements rather than nationality. This allows us to read stories from around the world in one place, and makes it easy to compare the myths and folklore about similar things across different cultures. Each section starts off with a short folktale about the featured natural elements (forests, mountains, wetlands, various waterbodies, hills and valleys). The rest of the chapter/section includes various creation stories and mythical creatures/spirits of the featured element.

The illustrations are vibrant, vivid, and detailed making the stories come alive.

Disclaimer: I received a digital ARC of all the featured boos from NetGalley, and these are my honest opinions of the book.

This is a fun book teaching children all about the different and interesting folklore that exists around the natural world and contains some interesting folk tales and legends. The book is split into sections with each section beginning with a folktale from somewhere around the world. What I love about these individual folktales is that I have never heard any of them before and they are all very different and from different parts of the world. The first tale is Czech and is about a young woman called Betushka who lives with her mother in the woods and what happens when she comes across a young lady who wants to dance with her who turns out to be a wood maiden. Each tale is different and not very long and after this the rest of the section of the book is made up of short chapters which are a double page or two long featuring some interesting and different facts about various folklore to do with woodlands, mushrooms, etc.

The book is really fun to read, the illustrations really bring the magical folklore to life and you can imagine some of the different creatures and characters from the illustrations. The folklore creatures and things you learn about are all very interesting and I love how the folklore in this book covers all parts of the world including Africa and the Americas. The facts about the different creatures or superstitions and things that you learn are short, a sentence or two about the various different aspects of folklore, such as a fact about Yggdrasil, the tree of life from Norse mythology, but each one is fascinating and I can imagine will inspire some children to want to learn more about them. I particularly liked the chapters on the different creatures found in the seas and waters like the sea gods and sea monsters, and the chapter on fungi, lichen and moss.

Overall this book isn’t too long a read, but it has some interesting folk tales and some fun facts about so many different folk legends and creatures that I would love to look at this book again in future as I’ve not heard of a lot of these despite being a fan of various folklore like Norse. I think this book will be enjoyed by many children, and is a great way of introducing the magic of folklore as well as teaching them about different tales and legends that exist today, and to see where they come from. Overall a great and fun read, with illustrations which really help add to the magic of the stories and facts.

A beautifully presented non-fiction book which is the perfect companion to 'Lore of the Wild'. Full of gorgeous artwork, each chapter explores a different aspect of wilderness with ancient and wise tales from folklore, many of which were unfamiliar to us. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing ancient stories of how the natural world was formed and found the snippets of information fascinating. Highly recommended and a treasure trove of new discoveries every time you open the pages.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ -- Gorgeous cover on this one!

This book is just so beautifully illustrated. I love the bold, bright colors used. The graphics are whimsical and eye catching. It's broken down into the following chapters...<b>‘Forests’, ‘Seas and Oceans’, ‘Mountains’, ‘Hills and Valleys’, ‘Rivers and Lakes’, and ‘Wetlands’.</b> Each chapter has a folk story from different parts of the world, followed by other little snippets of information about the chapter title. The one thing I had a minor issue with was the font used for the text. I found it a bit too small and hard to read. That said, I am half blind, so it could be just a "me" issue. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I found this book super interesting and I think it would make a splendid gift for young or old!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

A beautifully illustrated book with a brief glimpse into folklore and mythology from around the world.

I got. this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This was a really great collection of different types of lore, and their connections to different environments like forests, the sea, lakes etc. I love all the different lore it explores, and also that it has a short story at the beginning of each section! 😎

Definitely recommend this as a cool intro to the diversity of lore that exists out there, and to see similarities and differences in the way us humans have experienced and theorized stuff throughout time!

First of all - the illustrations in this book are absolutely stunning. It is gorgeous and each new page was a delight. However, the stories and snippets of information were lacking. The stories seemed like they ended abruptly and the descriptions of folklore seemed very surface level, when there could have been more detail and information.

First of all, thank you to the publisher for providing me an eArc via Netgalley!

Lore of the Land is divided in various sections such as the underwaterworld, mountains, forests, seas, volcanoes, hills, wetlands and valleys and so on.

And within these sections we got undercategories mostly on how these natural elements were created according to different mythologies or what kind of mythological creatures inhabitate those places.
The first page of those sections is followed by a rather longer retelling of a myth, but other than that we only get small pieces of various myths on the same page next to their drawings.

We got various myths from different places and eras all over the world, from Armenian over Babylonian and Native American up to Norse, Welsh, Korean, Slavic, West African and so on.

I really like the way it was sectioned and built, and the illustrations are very eye-catchy and I love the colors that were used.

While I loved how we have various myths from different cultures, I feel like it was still rather white centered.

I wished to see more Mesopotamian mythology, e.g. the water section would‘ve been a great opportunity to include the story of Tiamat and Abzu.

All in all I really liked Lore of the Land, some kids might find the illustrations rather frightening but other than that they are very easy to follow.

Lore of the Land is a perfect book for introducing young readers to folklore from different regions. The writing is easy to read and grasp by kids. Each chapter covers a different area of nature with an introductory story followed by short informational snippets from different cultures around the world. The illustrations are beautiful and perfectly match the stories and information being presented. While some adults may wish for more in-depth information to be included, I found this book to be just right for young readers (grades 1-7, ages 6-12) as it presents folklore in easily digested bites and encourages self-exploration on the subjects and cultures represented in these pages.

Folklore has been passed down for thousands of years, in all walks of life. The stories are vivid and exciting, sharing the story of our ancestors. This stunning book brings together those stories, animals and plants of lore and the interactions they have that we still see round us- ie why foxgloves are called such.

The gorgeous illustrations bring to life the phenomenal tales of lore, very vivid and inviting. They have been done in colourful and delicate pieces, filling the pages with wonderful examples of folklore, for children to imagine.

We love that the lore is not just from one culture or area, but spread across the lands, consisting of water, mountains, woodland and more- giving the children a vast example of all the variety and depth these details stories provide.

We cannot recommend this book enough and truly think it is a beautiful story and perfect for a gift or treat.

First of all, the brilliance of these illustrations and the beauty of the color contrasting is fantastic. Second, this is a fun read for sure and great for kids who are interested in mythology and nature. There's so much interesting information from a wide range of cultures giving a great way for kids to start to learn about other cultures and points of view.

Thank you netgalley for this ARC. I am leaving an 100% honest review.

Lore of the Land is a beautiful book that introduces the readers to folklore from around the world.

I greatly enjoyed the the amazing Tableau this book paints on world wide mythology. It really give a inside look on how people tried to explain the world around them and I love it

Lore of the Land was such a fun book to read each night at bedtime with my daughter. She would pick an area and story and we would dive in! It would spark each of us to learn more and have great discussions around these legends and lore that were often unfamiliar to us. I highly recommend and this is one that we will enjoy rereading and experiencing over and over together!

A beautiful little book illustrated by Samantha Dolan full of lore from all over the world. It’s presented in different chapters depicting different parts of the earth: the woods, the sea, the mountains etc. Each chapter has a little folk story and then jumps into different folklore about the nature aspects.

A very nice little read.